TENNIS – Caroline Wozniacki rallied from a set down to edge Svetlana Kuznetsova with 6-7(3) 6-3 6-1. Daria Gavrilova beat Sara Errani 6-1 5-7 6-2. Eugenie Bouchard pulled out from her third round match against Belinda Bencic Diego Sampaolo
Wozniacki, who won the Eastbourne in 2009, raced to a 5-1 lead but Kuznetsova recovered by reeling off five of the next six games to force a tie-break after saving a set point in the 12th game. Kuznetsova earned six break points in the tie-break and sealed her fourth opportunity with an ace for 7-3. Wozniacki fought back breaking serve in the third game for 2-1 to clinch the second set 6-3. In the third set Wozniacki broke at the start of the start of the third set and pulled away to a 5-1 lead but did not look back this time and clinched the win in the third set with 6-1. It was their 10th head-to-head match. Wozniacki leads 6-4
In the quarter finals Wozniacki will face Andrea Petkovic who beat Coco Wandeweghe 6-3 6-4
“I was 5-1 up in the first set, so when I was 5-1 up in the third set I was thinking to myself that I really couldn’t repeat what happened earlier. I served bette ras the match went on and tried to hit the ball a little earlier. We have played each other many times. She has had a good few years and I am just excited to be in the quarters,” said Wozniacki.
Eugenie Bouchard was forced to withdraw from her third round match against Beinda Bencic due to an abdominal injury as the Canadian player was losing 4-6 0-3
“I kept trying and trying. It was hard for me to put a serve in just because it was hard to put a serve in, just because I felt that pain a little bit. I am going to play at Wimbledon even if I am on one leg.It wasn’t smart to take a risk and be potentially out for a long time,” said Bouchard
Daria Gavrilova overcame Sara Errani 6-1 5-7 6-2 in two hours and 12 minutes. After Gavrilova swept aside Errani in the first set, Errani got an early break and raced to 5-2 in the second set but the Australian player of Russian origin reeled off three games and broke back to draw level to 5-5. Errani held her serve and won the final two games to take the second set with 7-5 but Gavrilova
Gavrilova made a breakthrough earlier this year when she beat Maria Sharapova in Miami She beat Ana Ivanovic in Rome in the third set tie-break on her 8th match point
Bencic will face wildcard Johanna Konta from Great Britain who edged Garbine Muguruza 6-4 4-6 6-3 following up with her win over Ekaterina Makarova. Konta broke Muguruza in the second game of the opening set and pulled away to 5-2. Muguruza broke back to claw her way back to 4-5. Konta broke again to clinch the first set with 6-4.
Muguruza broke in the first game of the second set before saving four break points to take a 3-1 lead en route to winning the second set. Konta broke serve in the fourth game of the third set to pull away to 5-1. Muguruza won the next two games for 3-5 but Konta took the ninth game to seal the win.
Agniewska Radwanska, winner in Eastbourne in 2008, cruised past Karolina Pliskova with 6-2 6-1 in 56 minutes. Tsvetana Pironkova rallied from a set down to edge Dominika Cibulkova 6-7(4) 6-4 6-1 after a spectacular match. Pironkova went down a set and a break. At 5-3 in the second set Pironkova was broken back but she broke at the end of a very long game forcing the match to the third set. Pironkova cruised to 6-1 to clinch the win.
Sloane Stephens beat Heather Watson 6-2 6-3. Stephens went up a double break after the first two service games. The US player converted on her second match point to clinch the second set with 6-3.
Petra Kvitova was also forced to withdraw on Monday because of illness.
ATP 250 Nottingham: Bolelli sets up quarter final with Baghdatis
Italian Simone Bolelli rallied from a set down to edge Adrian Mannarino 3-6 6-4 6-4 at the ATP 250 in Nottingham scoring his third win this week after beating Go Soeda and Martin Klizan in the first two rounds.
Both players held serve in the first three games of the opening set. In the fourth game Bolelli converted his third break point opportunity to take a 3-1 lead. Mannarino fought back breaking serve three times to win five consecutive games en route to winning the first set with 6-3.
Bolelli held his serve to love in the opening game of the second set before earning two break points in the next game but Mannarino saved them with his serve and his forehand. Bolelli broke serve in the seventh game at deuce. He held his serve in his next two service games.
The decisive set went on serve until the fifth game when Bolelli got the break. He held his serve after a hard-fought game at 4-3. In the 10th game he closed out the third set with 6-4 holding his serve to 15
Bolelli will face Marcos Baghdatis for the third time in his career (the Italian leads 2-0 in his head-to-head matches against Baghdatis). The Cypriot beat Aleksander Zverev 6-3 6-3.
One day after a three-hour marathon match against Marcel Granollers in which he saved three match points, Giles Simon cruised to winning Joao Sousa 6-4 6-1 setting up a quarter final against Sam Querrey who battled past Pablo Cuevas after two tie-breaks with 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-3).
Another match which was decided by two tie-breaks was won by Leo Mayer over Jiry Vesely with 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-5) Mayer will take on Denis Istomin who beat Sergiy Stakhovskiy 7-5 6-4.
Yen Hsun Lu beat number 3 seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-2 setting up a quarter final against Aleksander Dolgopolov who defeated Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-3
